1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a software upgrading method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a software upgrading method and apparatus capable of efficiently upgrading software of a digital broadcasting receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital broadcasting is a type of broadcasting service for producing content in a digital scheme and broadcasting the digital content with high video and audio qualities. Digital broadcasting has developed rapidly due to the development of various wired and wireless communication techniques, and viewers' demands for high quality video and audio digital content. Although digital broadcasting is more complicated than analog broadcasting, it can process various types of information, and is thus expected to be used in various fields such as education, medicine, and military industry.
A digital broadcasting receiver includes an apparatus which receives a digital broadcasting signal and processes an A/V stream and a data stream included in the broadcasting signal. Set top boxes and digital TVs (DTV) are examples of digital broadcasting receivers. The digital broadcasting receiver is controlled by software, which may contain errors or become out of date, and, thus, needs to be upgraded.
FIG. 1 shows a software upgrading apparatus in a digital broadcasting receiver in the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a tuner 100 receives a digital broadcasting signal through a channel selected by a user from a broadcasting signal which is transmitted electromagnetically or through a cable. The tuner 100 de-modulates the received signal into a baseband signal to generate a transport stream. The transport stream includes an audio stream, a video stream, and a data stream. The data stream includes data which is used to broadcast data and transmit information on programs. The data stream also includes data which is used to upgrade the software. Such a data stream is transmitted to the digital broadcasting receiver.
A de-multiplexer 101 extracts the data stream included in the transport stream and transmits the data stream to a data decoder 104. The data decoder 104 decodes upgrade data for the software included in the data stream and transmits the upgrade data for the software to an upgrade management unit 105.
The upgrade management unit 105 extracts an upgrade image from the upgrade data. The upgrade image is used to upgrade the software, and is stored through a memory input/output interface 106 in a permanent memory 107 to complete the software upgrading.
As the digital broadcasting receiver is given more functions, its software becomes larger and more complicated. Conventional software upgrading methods are inefficient, because when some portions of the software need to be upgraded, upgrade images of all portions are received and stored in the permanent memory 107.
As the structure of the software becomes complicated, various upgrading methods are needed as well as simply storing the upgrade image. For example, when the upgrading is performed after rebooting the digital broadcasting receiver or when the upgrading fails, the software needs to be recovered. In these cases, the upgrading cannot be simply completed with only the upgrading method of storing the upgrade image in the permanent memory 107.
Therefore, there is a need for an upgrading method which can efficiently upgrade the software in the digital broadcasting receiver with various upgrading schemes.